I love writing! I especially enjoy the days when the words flow quickly and easily. There are times where no matter how rapidly my fingers bang on the keyboard they simply cannot keep up with the multitude of ideas swarming in my head. As I type, a smile crosses my face because I know that my words are creative, helpful, and engaging. Yes, writing can be exhilarating! But, then there are days like today–times when each and every word typed requires intentionality and effort. On these days I am not in the zone, the words don’t flow, and writing feels like work. This week, in spite of my best intentions, this blog post did not come easy. And this was after using all of my best tricks.
Over the course of the week, I:
- Carried around an old-school legal-pad and brainstormed as many blog ideas as I could think of.
- I woke up early, brewed a fresh cup of coffee, set aside time specifically for writing…and then sat there staring at that dreaded blank screen.
- I used my own technique of reminding myself that, “Something is always better than nothing” and forced myself to get started. As a result, I have a half-finished blog post sitting in the queue–next week’s topic maybe?
- Finally, I followed a well known writer’s advice to sleep on it. As a student of psychology, I am well aware that our minds actively work even when we don’t. In the past, I’ve found that focusing on a topic a few minutes before going to sleep often leads to fresh new insights in the morning. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t.
This week I was stuck. Which leads to the question, “What should writers and communicators do when they get stuck?” Giving up is one option, but I believe there are much better solutions. In fact, if I’m going to be entirely honest, there are a number of topics that I could have posted on this week. Although this really has been a difficult post to write and some of the more challenging writing that I have done for some time, giving up was never really an option. Ultimately, I decided to write about the process of writing for two reasons. First, I wanted to give you a glimpse into my own writing process, and second, I wanted to encourage others who also find themselves stuck.
If you’re a communicator who sometimes has difficulty in knowing what to say, congratulations! You are normal! If you’re a writer, speaker, pastor, or blogger who posts new content on a regular basis, it’s almost a guarantee that there will be times when coming up with new ideas is a challenge. Producing fresh, new content on a consistent basis is hard work. The key is to keep going in spite of the difficulties. The good news is that the writer’s block and speaker’s block will eventually pass, because they always do. And today, the good news for me is that I did indeed just finish another post. Plus, I now have a yellow legal-pad with nearly fifteen new ideas sitting next to me. Although I’m most certainly not “in the zone”, I know that this too will pass. Today, I’m going to take some time to relax and get re-energized before starting on next week’s post. I’m confident that by this weekend the words will once again come easily. Hopefully if you’re feeling stuck, this is an encouragement to you. Don’t give up! Don’t allow the thought that you are weird, different, or don’t have what it takes to enter your head. Getting stuck is normal. Pushing through the rough patches is what professionals do. It is a skill that is learned, and one that gets easier with practice. So, keep going. Move through the dry spells knowing that soon enough the energy and creativity will reemerge.
Finally, I’d like to end this post by asking for your help. While I firmly believe that the writing will once again come easily by this weekend, there is a small chance that it won’t. And if that happens, I’ll need your support. What are your best strategies for getting unstuck? How do you get the creativity and energy flowing again? What advice would you give to a blogger sitting at his or her desk staring at that dreaded blank screen? How have you overcome writer’s block or speaker’s block in the past? I’d love to learn from you and borrow your favorite time-tested tools.
Hey, Jed! First, congratulations on completing a hard task. It’s a solid post with beneficial information, it’s well-written – and it’s honest. When we are good at something and do it often, we tend to be the hardest audience. You are spot on, in that FINISHING is key. From there, keep in mind that what you might consider second- or third-rate relative to what you know or feel is “your best” … is often still perceived as amazing by others. Another way to look at it is that if you are good at a thing, your 50% is better than most people’s 100%.
That said, there are a few things I’ve found to be at play when words aren’t coming as easily for me. Rather than simply “sit at the computer and stare at a blank screen” (i.e., rely on my sheer sense of discipline), I look to these three ROOT CAUSES of the block, and do my best to deal with whichever of them is the issue:
1. I’m spending too much time on other people. Output is exceeding input.
I’m a mentor with teens and young adults. I also tend to be heavily involved in helping others and am often called upon as a go-to emotional support. It can easily happen, then, that an inordinate amount of my time and energies are flowing out, with not enough flowing in. We only have so much internal resources to go around; we can’t do everything. If all of my energies are flowing outward into others, there isn’t enough left for other things that require brain space – like writing. In those times, it’s necessary not ONLY to take some down town away from output without feeling bad about it, but also (and this is the hard part) to seek input. I have certain friends that I know are those “input people” for me, and I have to be intentional about seeking them out.
2. I’m not spending ENOUGH time interacting with other people.
Yes, I know this seems like it contradicts the last point, but stick with me; it doesn’t really. There are also stretches of time when I can get my head into PROJECTS: be it graphic design, web coding, learning a new tool or program – even writing itself sometimes. And during those stretches, I forget to interact with other people out there in “the real world.” I don’t count routine interactions I have with family as “the real world” in this case. And I’m also not referring to those intense “outputs” with people, where I have the role of giver or listener, and they have the role of consumer. I’m talking about new interactions with a variety of just regular people out there – putting myself in novel situations, hearing new perspectives, being called upon to engage but not “solve” anything. It’s that conversation with the guy at the gym, or the old man at the coffee counter.
Funny things is, point 1 above can often drive me to such projects – instead of just taking time for silence, reflection and care from “my input people.” I have to remember that when I am exhausted from intense output, while projects can seem a welcome distraction from words – they are still mental output, and therefore using up brain space. Remember: we are finite, so there’s only so much total energy to go around.
3. I’m in a rut with my routine.
This might seem like the same thing as point 2, but again, I’ve learned to discern a difference. If I am doing the same thing the same way EVERY day for a period of time, my brain can go on autopilot. I’m encountering nothing new, no one new. I’m not requiring myself to problem solve (which is a form of creativity). This can really kill creativity. Creativity itself, at core, is the ability to see novel connections between things; so if I’m doing nothing outside of a repetitive pattern, I’m giving my brain nothing to work with creatively. I’m starving it, if you will. In the case of writing in particular, I don’t have anything new to write about because I haven’t LIVED anything new to write about.
These are the times when I simply need to be intentional about breaking the routine. Go to a new ethnic restaurant. Get “lost” on purpose while driving home (with my GPS handy), just to see streets and areas that are unfamiliar to my brain. Listen to music I wouldn’t typically listen to (or maybe even that I don’t particularly like). It doesn’t matter so much WHAT it is, as long as it intentionally breaks routine.
I find that one of these three things is usually the culprit when it comes to writer’s block. And just trying to soldier through, while it may work in a pinch, won’t typically work for a longer time unless I make the choice to be intentional about changing something.
I also find that, knowing my creativity drains above, prevention is the best cure. Then I can remain balanced between output and input more often. I can be sure to take breaks from absorbing projects that can dissociate me from living out with real people where new ideas are flowing. And I can remind myself to do new things on a regular basis.
Ugh! Once again, I seem to have written a whole post by way of reply! Clearly, today is not one of the days I’m grasping for words. Hope you and others do find it helpful, if you made it to the end here!
Thanks Erik,
I love your reply! Numbers 1 & 2 are definitely me right now. It’s funny, as a therapist I spend a lot of time reminding others about taking time for self-care, but like many therapists, I sometimes tend to neglect this area myself. This week my two older girls have been on spring break and my youngest is getting three new teeth in. Needless to say, life has been non-stop. Come to think of it, I probably could have easily wrote a post on “3 Ways to Sooth a Teething Baby” and “How to Teach a Six-Year-Old to Ride a Bike,” but I’m not sure they would have fit in with the communication theme 🙂 Thanks for some excellent ideas to get me back in the groove! Love what you said about prevention being the best cure! Now I just need to put it into practice.
There are certain times in life when the output just outweighs the input because it’s the way it is; helping babies cut their teeth and daughters ride bikes with their dad during school vacation absolutely trump all. Thinking about the “prevention” approach, maybe treat writing like money and start a savings account. When you ARE flowing, try to squeeze TWO posts out and save one in your “writing bank account” (taking Adam’s “idea bank” suggestion a bit further here). As those accrue, you’ll have a safety net for when you need one.
Do I do this? Nope. Should I? Probably.
Just brainstorming…
Awesome post, Jed! Way to push through! I have learned to keep an idea bank of some sort for when these times come from drawing blanks. There are times when it won’t stop flowing, and then there are those times that I experience, where almost nothing comes. Maybe you already keep something like this, but that has helped me meet more deadlines than anything else. People will tell you to do all these things to bring ideas, but what they miss is capturing them when they come. If they still don’t have ideas after telling them that, then I tell them to go discover more of life and come back to writing after they live a life worth writing about.It’s all about perspective.
Adam, you managed to say this WAY more succinctly than I did, man: “…go discover more of life and come back to writing after they live a life worth writing about.It’s all about perspective.” Yes! Kudos.
Love it! And yes, I need to start capturing ideas as they come 🙂 It may be time for me to check out Evernote 🙂